As Wiress pulled the doors to the train closed, Xersius passed out cold onto the plush green carpet. Together, they carried him to his room and closed the door, grateful for a moment of peace.
"Breakfast rolls, please." Wiress directed Ryania.
"Come to think of it, I never had my coffee." Beetee remarked as they sat at the table in the dining car. Both inventors looked around picturing their children around the table.
"Ryania, coffee. And the breakfast rolls – just two servings –" Wiress' voice cracked. "Beetee – last year – our children –"
"I know." Her husband replied heavily as he took her hand. "They were so strong – through everything." He paused. "I only hope we can be as strong as they were. We need each other." He said firmly seeing sorrow in Wiress' eyes. "I need you, Wiress."
"Yes." Wiress whispered unclasping Beetee's hand as Ryania brought them breakfast. "Thank you." Automatically, Wiress looked to her right to tell Estelle that she could serve herself. Ryania noticed that gesture before tears came to her eyes.
"Could you straighten our room?" Beetee asked. "We'll probably lay down after breakfast." He remarked suddenly weary. They ate breakfast in silence and spent the rest of the morning dozing fitfully in their room clinging to pillows from Estelle and Noah's rooms on the train.
"Oh, I remember how fun it was to do your girl's makeup last year!" One of the stylists gushed before getting a death glare from Wiress. While the stylists plucked her and dressed her, Wiress contented herself with remembering bathing and dressing Estelle as a little girl. "There, my dear!" The stylist finished as she turned the lights on Wiress' body suit. Thankfully, her clothing wasn't skintight, so she wasn't embarrassed to be seen by the whole country. Beetee's costume was similar. He wore a silver fitted long sleeved t-shirt with silver slacks. Wiress wore a fitted quarter-length t-shirt, a flowing silver skirt, and thin gold bracelets.
"Smile and wave." Beetee muttered as he helped his wife into the chariot.
"Smile – at them –" Wiress whispered, her throat constricting.
"Like our children." Beetee replied squeezing her hand gently. Though their hearts were eons away from the parade, they waved and smiled thinking about how proudly their children stood on this parade route a year ago.
"Oh –" Wiress gasped pointing at the large screen set up behind President Snow. The cameras had zoomed in on Katniss and Peeta bathed in synthetic light from their costumes. "They – are riveting."
"Yes, very." Beetee replied knowing Haymitch probably had a handsome sum of money in his sponsor accounts already. "Good for them, of course. And their allies."
"Yes." Wiress agreed taking his hand. Turning her head away from President Snow, she gawked at Katniss and Peeta.
"Wiress – what are you – oh –" Beetee chuckled watching the cameras pan to Wiress' surprised expression before focusing once again on the Star Crossed Lovers. "Alright, I won't question you, dear." Beetee smiled and kissed Wiress' cheek as the chariots returned to the training center.
"Well, I guess we'd better get settled to watch the recap." Beetee muttered after he and Wiress changed into their pajamas. Nodding at Gearton, he smiled as he took his large piece of chocolate cake.
"Indulging your sweet tooth once more –" Wiress quipped before they heard a knock at the door.
"I'll get it." Beetee called before pushing a button at the end of the coffee table. "District Three suite!" He announced as a microphone embedded in the coffee table carried his voice to a speaker near the door.
"Nerds! Let us in!" Finnick called.
"Son, where's Mags?" Beetee asked hoping Finnick didn't make her leave her suite.
"Sleeping." Jo replied. "And Blight decided to get hammed, so we're bored! Let us in!" Beetee and Wiress chuckled as the two young victors entered the room.
"So, I totally had the best awkward moment with Katniss!" Finnick announced
"Ok, what did you do?" Beetee asked half amused, half exasperated.
"I offered her a sugar cube. And asked about her secrets!" Finnick replied as he and Jo plopped down on the couch.
"Finnick, you are supposed to be encouraging –" Wiress sighed slightly worried that the young victor wasn't taking his part in the rebellion seriously.
"Yes, encouraging an alliance, not making the other victors feel awkward!" Beetee finished before Jo burst out laughing. "Oh no." He muttered as his fellow victors exchanged devious glances.
"I stripped out of my tree costume in front of them. Peeta was totally looking!" Jo replied to Beetee and Wiress' wary gazes.
"Hey – I almost stripped but you talked me out of it!" Finnick yelped. "You just wanted to do it!"
"Yeah so? FINNICK!" Jo yelped as the two began play-wrestling on their end of the couch. Wiress cleared her throat as the seal of Panem flashed across the TV indicating the beginning of the broadcast.
"Ok – Kids! C'mon, knock it off, you two!" Beetee called automatically going into dad mode. "We all need to watch the recaps. I mean it!" The two young victors calmed down as the national anthem played. Jo sang along using rude words in place of the correct lyrics. Wiress was glad she had thought of turning the scramblers on in their unit when they first arrived, especially given their current company.
"And Bird Girl steals the show." Jo remarked as the crowd began cheering for Katniss even at the start of the parade.
"We encouraged it, of course –" Wiress began as the camera caught her enraptured gaze at the Mockingjay. "Unhinge Snow –"
"Oh, he looks pissed!" Finnick cheered and fist-pumped the air as the broadcast switched to President Snow staring at Katniss with a look of pure loathing.
"Plutarch looks happy." Beetee pointed out. "The plan is coming." The broadcast switched to discussing the latest fashions touted by the people in the box seats. "So, you two. Training. What are your plans?"
"Just be me." Finnick replied. "I have to act tough you know – like a real Career. Nana will work on the survival stations. I will try to talk to Katniss, but otherwise," He paused as he smoothed his hands down his chest and abs. "Sexy tough me." He finished in a seductive voice as Jo rolled her eyes.
"Johanna?" Wiress asked.
"Throw some axes. Wrestle." Jo replied shrugging. "Bird Girl can find me if she wants to talk." Beetee and Wiress nodded.
"We'll train in the survival stations. Attempting to do tasks so –" Wiress began smiling thinking about Noah setting up camp in his games.
"In a way that would incline Katniss to help us, of course." Beetee finished. He looked at his watch. "Ok, kids. You should probably go back to your suites."
"Bye, Nerds!" Jo called as she and Finnick left the living room.
"Kids will be kids." Beetee chuckled as the door closed. He sighed. "Finnick and Jo – and now Peeta and Katniss have over half their lives to enjoy a free Panem. I just hope we can succeed in giving it to them."
"Yes. We will." Wiress replied. "We will give our lives. Then they will be free."
"And you take this stick to create friction – oops –" Beetee remarked before his stick broke. Wiress chuckled at him before glancing around the training center.
"Do you need help?" Katniss asked looking tentatively at them.
"Sure." Beetee replied gratefully. "I'm a bit out of practice." Wiress smiled at Katniss as she helped them get a fire started.
"Oh –" Wiress gasped striking a match on a piece of bark. She smiled at Beetee before lighting the kindling. It was true that they were both out of practice with their survival skills. "Of course, we have combustion machines –"
"That work with the touch of a switch." Beetee finished. "I believe they have those in your district." Katniss nodded.
"Have you – have you been to District Eight?" Katniss asked before Wiress nodded.
"I was there to test a machine that would measure the width and the strength –" Wiress paused as she looked at one of the sticks in her hand.
"Of the thread for sewing machines." Beetee said. Wiress nodded. From the thoughtful look in Katniss' face, Beetee surmised she had heard something about the rebellion. "They've been having production problems recently."
"We have had some production issues for a while –" Wiress began smiling at Wiress.
"We haven't had any problems with coal production. Maybe for two weeks in the winter. But that got resolved." Katniss explained. Wiress nodded happy she got the girl's attention. Catching Katniss' eye, Wiress pointed toward the Gamemaker observation window.
"Yes, that's a new Gamemaker." Katniss remarked.
"No – a chink –" Wiress began.
"In the forcefield." Beetee finished. Katniss nodded. "A place where the current isn't quite uniform." Soon Katniss went to find Peeta. "Well, that went well." He said to Wiress as they went to the edible plants station. He noticed that Wiress' mind wandered more often than usual. "Hon?"
"Yes?" Wiress asked as she plucked several flowers and began to make a flower wreath. "I like Katniss. What do you think?"
"Bright. Like our Estelle – our star –" Humming, Wiress finished her wreath and lay it on the table. She watched the other tributes. Mags was showing Katniss how to make improvised hooks. Finnick was practicing with a trident, and Jo was throwing axes. Peeta was lifting weights with Chaff. Some of the other victors were doing their own thing. Most of the tributes retired to their District Suites and not eat lunch in the cafeteria next to the training area.
"So, Katniss has made friends with us, Finnick, and Mags." Beetee began over sandwiches.
"Mmmhm." Wiress replied as she picked at her food.
"She will probably befriend Seeder because of Rue, and I don't know how she and Johanna will introduce themselves."
"They will know –" Wiress began before humming. "Her skills."
"But when will everyone watch her?" Beetee asked. Wiress hummed and ate her meal thinking about mealtimes with her children. "Hon?"
"I spoke with –" Wiress began. "You'll see."
Beetee puzzled over Wiress' remarks as they returned to the training area in the afternoon. Unlike her training so many years ago, Wiress preferred to stay in the survival stations. "Oh –" Wiress gasped as Katniss entered the archery station.
"Did you talk to the archery trainer?" Beetee asked quietly as Wiress smiled. "Yes, you did. C'mon." Taking his wife's hand, Beetee led them to benches near the station where they could watch Katniss shoot down plastic birds. Wiress' clapped to draw the other tributes' attention to Katniss' archery skills. After an hour, Katniss turned around to see most of the other victors gaping at her.
"That's it, my dear." Wiress whispered with a smile as Katniss sheepishly walked by the group.
"Damn!" Haymitch rasped as he nearly choked on his vodka in the District Twelve suite. "So, the whole room saw her shoot?"
"Yes, but we are confident of her skills –" Wiress began before a worried look crossed her face at Haymitch's scowl.
"I'm not complaining, nerds, but damn! WHAT?" Haymitch hollered at a knock to the door. Beetee sighed and pushed a button on Haymitch's coffee table.
"District Twelve suite." Beetee announced.
"District Eleven here – and about everyone else is here."
"Yeah, well, you're in if she asks!" Haymitch called.
"Thanks!" Several voices chorused. A moment later, Haymitch chased Beetee and Wiress from the suite before Katniss and Peeta came back.
"He will tell her that we will form an alliance –" Wiress began smiling.
"Thanks to your idea." Beetee added wrapping an arm around her. "Thank you, dear."
The Teslas concentrated on survival stations and light weapons for the rest of training. They were content to wander the training area observing their allies. Wiress found herself reminscing about her own training or about her son building his trap around the cornucopia. "Hon?" Beetee's voice pulled her from reminiscing about her District Six allies of her games.
"Yes?" Wiress asked.
"We were going to the camping station." Beetee replied worriedly. "Wiress, are you ok?"
"I'm thinking –" Wiress began as she watched Peeta and Katniss walk through the room hand in hand.
"About your games? Our children's games?" Beetee asked as Wiress nodded. At the end of the day, Wiress exited the training room hand in hand with her husband.
"She works hard." Wiress said during lunch before their private sessions.
"Katniss?" Beetee asked. Wiress nodded.
"For him." Wiress hummed as she ate her soup. "Some people are rebelling –" Wiress glanced at the clock.
"During their private sessions?" Beetee asked. "Yes, Haymitch mentioned that the kids would probably do that on their own."
"So, our plan will fit in." Wiress replied smiling.
Beetee gazed at the Gamemaker before he unraveled a spool of wire. It was thicker than his golden wire and would hold much less voltage. However, it would do. Humming to himself, he began laying it in a pattern on the ground and securing various loops with metal staples. Gathering some flammable liquid, he doused his wire creation as the Gamemakers watched intently. Stepping back, he gestured to the words: Estelle and Noah written with the wire before he lit a match setting the wires on fire. "No, don't clean it up." He said allowing tears to stream down his face watching the flames burn the liquid and wire forming his children's names. Wiress came to the door as he left the room. Wasting no time, Wiress began assembling a metal contraption. Climbing a tree near the burning wires of her children's names, she dropped her device on the burning wires.
The Gamemakers gasped even as Wiress beamed at them from her perch on her tree. The contraption rolled around the wires rearranging them on the artificial ground. Rolling away, the metal contraption burst into flame and disintegrated to ash. The only thing that remained from the Teslas' work was a wire outline of a Mockingjay.
"Twelve? Twelve?" Beetee gasped as Caesar Flickerman announced Katniss and Peeta's scores. "Oh my wires, what did they do?"
"I don't know, but we must not complain –" Wiress began holding her husband's hand. She was quite satisfied with their scores of five. Smiling, Wiress pulled a small USB stick from her pocket and inserted it into the TV. "I was able to hack into the video feed –" A grainy image of the Gamemaker observation deck above the training room replaced the broadcast. Before Peeta and Katniss' training sessions, the Gamemakers were already on edge from other rebellious sessions: Finnick throwing a trident on a dummy painted crudely like President Snow, Jo throwing an axe into a dummy with the word: Gamemaker painted on its chest, and the Teslas' demonstations. A time-lapse showed the Gamemakers' faces change from worry to disgust in the course of 45 minutes. At the end of Katniss' demonstration, every Gamemaker wore expressions of pure terror.